"Lest he appear by the great
glory of our High Priest, to prevent us from going to him, he adds
after, that he is nonetheless our brother indeed, (as he proved
before) and that he counts all our miseries as his own, to call us
boldly to him."

"In the sight of Infinite
Wisdom, it was needful that the Saviour of men should be one who has
the fellow-feeling which no being but a fellow-creature could
possibly have; and therefore it was necessary he should actual
experience of all the effects of sin that could be separated from
its actual guilt."

"PHILO
similarly speaks of "God passing between the parts of Abraham's
sacrifices (Ge 15:17, where, however, it is a 'burning lamp' that
passed between the pieces) with His word, which is the cutter of all
things: which sword, being sharpened to the utmost keenness, never
ceases to divide all sensible things, and even things not
perceptible to sense or physically divisible, but perceptible and
divisible by the word.""

"In a passage that sets a chilling warning immediately before a great comfort, it is God and the audience’s relationship with him that unites the disparate sections. He, ever judge, can also be experienced as the giver of grace."

"There should be no greater encouragement to us as Christians than that of the mercy and grace God promises to us, mercy and grace that are based on Christ having loved us enough to identify with us to the point of suffering and death."

"Compassion and kindness, grace and
mercy, are there when we face our times of need. This is not so much about
when we fail, as it is when we face hard times and are confronted with
temptations which threaten to overwhelm us."

"As long as we worship a “hidden” God, we may never permanently dispel our doubts about God and salvation. But in the face of our deepest doubts, the idea that Jesus incarnated God means that God really and truly understands what it is like to be fully human. Jesus’ experience of our full humanity assures us that God empathizes with us in every facet of our lives."

"It doesn't matter how
complicated, how desperate, perhaps even hopeless your life has
become. No matter how overwhelmed you may feel by your problems, if
your trust is in Jesus Christ, you can be sure that he is praying
for you now and through that prayer he will provide for you the
resources to bring you relief or enable you to carry on."

"Empathy connotes not just
listening to another?s story but also participating in the
other?s story, so that the listener not only hears and believes
the facts of another?s experience, but actually feels the
experience at some level. To have empathy with another is not
simply to believe what that person says but to feel along with that
person, to participate in that person?s experience.

"It is my conviction, based on
several strands of evidence seen throughout the New Testament, that
Jesus Christ was incapable of sinning (thus, he was impeccable). But
Heb 4:15 must be dealt with if this view is to be maintained."